Licence of dozens of bakeries cancelled

LAHORE - The Food Department of City District Government (CDG) has cancelled dozens of licences of bakeries and food factories, functioning in various areas of the City on account of negligence in spraying insecticides and failing in cleaning their kitchens and factories, TheNation has learnt on Monday. The department also challaned hundreds of other bakeries and food factories with imposing heavy fines of thousands of rupees on them. The food department initiated such action on hundreds of public complaints, submitted in the office of District Coordination Officer (DCO) Ahad Cheema and District Officer Food Dr Masood Ashraf. The complainants urged the authorities concerned that kitchens of mostly bakeries and small scaled food factories were dirty and presenting the picture of filth stations. Some of the complainants said they witnessed different creepy insects like rates, cockroach, mosquitoes, bees and ants while creeping frequently on the uncovered sweets and bakery items in the kitchens of various bakeries and food factories of their concerned areas. They further complained it seemed that the kitchen of such bakeries neither were cleaned nor were sprayed of insecticides since a long time. They blamed that these small scaled bakeries were preparing unhygienic edible products in their factories which were contributing various fatal disease among the masses particularly the abdomen related diseases. The complainants further complained that owners of mostly food factories used to prepare sweets and bakery products in the dirty and health hazardous environment of kitchens and even did not bother the health of citizens. They also used to violate all the relevant clauses of the food laws, which bound them to adopt all essential health related matters and other preventive measures in this regard while preparing their products. However, both authorities, on receiving such a notable number of public complaints, ordered an organised crackdown on almost all the bakeries and food factories of the City and in this regard they formed four special raiding squads, which conducted consecutive raids on hundreds of bakeries and food factories and got samples of various bakery items and sent the same to the CDG laboratory for examination. Later, on finding results of such samples' examinations, the department initiated action against the owners of hundreds of such bakeries, found involved in preparing adulterated and unhygienic bakery products while the authorities concerned ordered cancellation of their licenses immediately and also ordered to seal their shops till further orders. In this regard, Chief Inspector Food Chaudhry Ayub told this scribe that the raiding squads conducted raids on almost all the bakeries and food factories including some reputed bakeries of the City and imposed fines on them.